Headmaster Potter-Evans-Verres
by GreatestKingOfThemAll999
Summary: Recursive Fanfic of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality/HPMOR. Something changes, and Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres' sorting goes even further off the rails than it was supposed to. Now Harry has to figure out the mysteries of magic while also trying to take care of the school. Inspired by Chapter 11's "Omake Files #3".
1. A Choice of Very Low Probability

Disclaimer: This is a spin-off of the fanfiction "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality". If you have not read that story up to at least Chapter 11 you will be missing out on important context. I will try to make the story clear for new readers, but it is intended for fans of Methods of Rationality and I will be trying to appeal to them first.

* * *

Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres had to wonder how it had all come to this. Not a week ago he was living a semi-normal life with his family in Oxford, and now here he was, arguing with a temporarily self-aware magical hat over whether or not he would end up turning evil.

_Then I won't do that again! I'll be extra careful not to turn evil!_

_"Heard it."_

Frustration was building up inside Harry. He wasn't used to being outgunned in arguments, at all, ever, let alone by a Hat that could borrow all of his own knowledge and intelligence to argue with him and could watch his thoughts as they formed. How was he supposed to win an argument with himself?

_"__Then stop trying to win the argument." The Hat said, its words appearing in Harry's mind as if he thought them himself. "You should be trying to find the best answer! You're so convinced you have to go to Ravenclaw that you won't listen to other alternatives."_

_So, what, I'm supposed to just get thrown into Hufflepuff based on a whim that I might turn evil? What about being with others of my own kind, or fostering my intellectual growth?_

_"__If I had any intention of sending you off to Hufflepuff, you would have been sorted there already. I'm trying to sort you to where you belong, and all I'm saying is that you might be happier in Hufflepuff than Ravenclaw."_

_You can't be serious, can you? I've never had friends before because I was too absorbed in my studies. That's practically the definition of a Ravenclaw!_

_"__Wanting to learn more and valuing knowledge above all else are two entirely different things. I cannot tell you how many children I have sorted where they did not believe they should go because of that fact."_

_I'm aware of that, but that doesn't mean I don't value knowledge above all else. Everything we accomplished as a species, good or bad, has been due to our increasing knowledge. The moon landing, computers, the atomic bomb, none of them would be accomplished without dedicated scientists._

_"__Those projects all required people with the traits of all four Houses to be effective. They needed people ambitious enough to believe it could be done, people hardworking enough to complete the projects, and people heroic enough to be launched into space on a dangerous rocket. The Hogwarts founders chose these Houses because all four traits are necessary to truly accomplish anything great. I believe you have these traits, and the other houses could help draw those traits out of you."_

_And, more importantly, you're worried that I could become the next Dark Lord._

There was a pause. Harry knew he was getting hung up a bit too much on this. The Hat was making valid points and was attempting to sort him into the best House, but Harry couldn't let go of the idea he was being pushed where he didn't belong.

The Hat spoke patiently. _"Yes, your potential to become a dark lord does factor into my hesitance to sort you into Ravenclaw. As far as I can tell, with my limited memory on the subject, there have only been two Gryffindor Dark Lords and one Hufflepuff. Slytherin produces the most, but a handful have come from Ravenclaw as well. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff are not only valid options, but they are also the safest. Surely you understand my reasoning."_

_I'm all for avoiding risks, but I prefer to test things before jumping into them._

_"__Oh sure, I'll just whip out my patented Sorting Hat Dark Lord Compatibility Test. I draw on your intelligence, remember? Besides, this conversation is becoming too long already. I'm only built to spend a maximum of one minute on anyone's head."_

Harry was suddenly very keenly aware that he was still sitting on the stool in the Great Hall. He tried to look over at the Ravenclaw table for Hermione, but he couldn't clearly see her among the hundreds of Ravenclaw students. He could pick out Fred and George exchanging nervous glances over at the Gryffindor table, but only because they brought attention to themselves earlier when Harry was called. The students still waiting to be sorted had started sitting down on the floor, unsure of how long this conversation would last. The whole hall was almost uncannily still and silent, with only the occasional sounds of people shuffling and the occasional metallic clanging coming from Snape as he idly compacted the twisted remains of what had once been a heavy silver wine goblet.

_Er...how long have I-_

_"__Longer than all the other first years put together. Far longer than anyone was expected to."_

Harry did notice he was getting progressively more tired as the conversation went on. He supposed it could presumably be strain from holding both sides of a heated argument.

_"__Right, so lets finish up with this sorting before you collapse from exhaustion or I'm forced to hop off your head in frustration."_

_Is there any way you could do a test run of sorts? Sort me temporarily so I can test my dark lord potential?_

_"__No. If I sorted you temporarily I'd have to sort you again at a later time, and I can't remember any children that are not currently under my brim, let alone sort them. Not to mention suddenly every child would come to me asking for a test run of their favourite Houses."_

_Well, all things considered, that's not too bad an idea. Children's minds aren't fully developed at this age, they haven't even been through puberty yet, and they presumably make friends in all the Houses. Plus if people could sort into and out of Slytherin it might cut down on the bias against that House._

_"__No and that's final. Now we're going to find a reasonable answer to the question of where you will be sorted and I can finally get on to the other students."_

Harry glanced around the room again at all the expectant faces, he saw Professor McGonagall maintaining a stoic face as she clenched the podium in a white-knuckled grip. She probably thought he had infected the Sorting Hat and he was about to be sorted into the whole new House of Doom or something. Actually, he sort of had infected the Sorting Hat by turning it sentient. He wouldn't want to be sorted into a whole new House, but if he was a bit creative…

_"__No. No. No. This is so much worse than all your other suggestions."_

_Think about it, it's a perfect opportunity to test me! I'll be carefully monitored all the time and there has to be some sort of check on what I can do in that position. Wizards are primitive but they're not THAT primitive._

_"__I can't believe you're seriously considering this."_

_My knowledge of the sciences means I could turn this school into an advanced modern school that could put Oxford to shame and I could learn about magic much more rapidly than I would with normal schooling. No other students could make you self-aware enough to sort them into anything besides the four houses, so it's not like this would happen again._

The Hat's response came slowly. _"You can't think of a problem with this decision, and by extension neither can I."_

_So clearly that means it's a smart thing to do!_

_"__All that means is that you're too self-absorbed to see the obvious problems in front of you."_

_Your duty is to pick the best House to sort me into, and we found the answer._

The Hat sighed. _ "I guess I'm actually going to do this. I'm sure I would regret this if I were going to be self-aware afterwards,"_

_So was this your strangest conversation ever?_

_"__Conversation? Not even close. Decision? Definitely."_

The frightened silence was broken by a single word.

"Headmaster!" called the Sorting Hat.

Some students screamed, the pent-up tension was so great. People startled hard enough to fall off their benches. Then a collective groan went through the Great Hall as they figured out the sorting wasn't even finished yet.

At the Head Table, Dumbledore rose, his face puzzled. "Yes?" he addressed the Hat. "What is it?"

"I wasn't talking to you," said the Hat. "I was Sorting Harry Potter into the place in Hogwarts where he most belongs, namely the Headmaster's office."

The room grew silent once more as everyone processed this information.

"Now I know this is new to you, but I'm sure if everyone works together this will be a smooth transition for-"

The hall exploded with noise.


	2. A Surprising Response

The doors to the Great Hall burst open, and into the room strode a heavy-set, square-jawed witch with greyed hair cropped close around her head. She was followed by a half-dozen other witches and wizards, all wearing the same official-looking robes. The hall quickly grew quiet again, with the murmurs of conversation barely louder than the sounds of the footsteps echoing through the Hall.

"Ah, Amelia! How nice to see you. Oh, and you brought some Aurors with you!" Dumbledore said in a cheerful voice, with no indication that anything was wrong. "You really should have notified us in advance, though. You could have scared our new students with that entrance."

Harry's mind was swimming as he processed this information. Why was Dumbledore so calm about this? Who were these people? Dumbledore appeared to know who they were, but he didn't expect them to show up. Didn't Hogwarts have wards against people getting in without the Headmaster's knowledge? How did they even learn about the Sorting so quickly? More importantly, how did they get here so quickly? It requires a concerted effort to get a half-dozen people organised and ready, even if they are an emergency response team. Did they have some way of knowing in advance? Most importantly, what were they going to do in response to the Hat sorting him into the Headmaster position? Most importantly, how could Harry not have seen this coming? There was a difference between keeping your money in underground vaults and not having any kind of checks on who becomes in charge of the largest school in the country.

"Enough of the innocent act, Albus." the woman, Amelia, said. "You know why I'm here."

"Ah, yes. Your grand-niece is starting her schooling this year. If I remember correctly, she was sorted into-"

"The Hat, Albus." Amelia said through gritted teeth. "We need to check it for signs of magical tampering."

"Oh, but you have to wait until after the sorting! There are still plenty of students who haven't been sorted yet! It wouldn't be fair to start the year with only some of them sorted!"

_Ok, they're just worried about the Hat._ Harry thought to himself. _All I need to do is truthfully say that I didn't tamper with the Hat in any way, and I'll be fine._

"Well if we end up finding something wrong with the Hat, you can re-sort all of the students." Amelia gestured to a robed figure to her right, "Porter, you're in charge of this operation, make sure all possible diagnostic spells are used on the Hat. As far as we know, the Hat can't be destroyed, but it is still an irreplaceable magical artifact, so be careful with it." She then pointed at Harry, "Mr. Potter, come with me, we need to ask you a few questions about your conversation with the Hat."

_Then again,_ a different part of Harry thought, _technically I did tamper with the Hat by making it self-aware._ Apparently that came from the inconvenient timing part of his brain.

Harry got up from his stool and walked over to Amelia. _Well whatever happens,_ said a third voice, _I'm not going to give up my shot at Headmaster so easily, there's no way I'm getting another opportunity like this any time soon._

"_HE IS COMING_," said a huge hollow voice that cut through all conversation like a sword of ice. "_THE ONE WHO WILL TEA-"_

Dumbledore had leapt out of his throne and run straight over the Head Table and seized hold of the woman speaking those awful words, Fawkes had appeared in a flash, and all three of them vanished in a crack of fire.

_OH COME ON!_

* * *

"Absolutely not!" Dumbledore said.

Harry was currently sitting in the Headmaster's office, with three important pieces of information he did not have before.

Firstly, whoever built Hogwarts was clearly more concerned with showing off their magical expertise than making a proper structure for schooling. He could swear he was led _down_ more stairs than _up_ on the way to the Headmaster's office, but a glance out the window showed they were clearly higher up than they were before. Not to mention the moving staircases and the hallways which led nowhere.

Secondly, the person Dumbledore called "Amelia" was apparently Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The wizards she sent to check on the Hat were gathered from various branches of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and the wizards who stayed with her were Aurors, sort of a Homeland Security SWAT force for wizards, only they were mostly called in for minor protection jobs since You-Know-Who's defeat.

Thirdly, Dumbledore was playing up his innocence during the Sorting, and when he was being serious, he could get scary.

"Albus, be reasonable here. This is a huge fiasco and we need to figure out exactly what is going on." Director Bones replied, clearly trying to mask her impatience.

"He is just a first year, he was only told about magic a few months ago, and he has only had his books for a few days. You tested his wand, he hasn't had a chance to cast a single spell yet."

"We don't know what the situation is yet, and we need to know as much about the Sorting Hat's decision as possible. We aren't going to be tearing into his mind, we just need to use a drop of Veritaserum."

"I will not allow one of my students to be interrogated by a squad of Aurors on their first day! You will have to wait until your team completes the tests on the Hat."

"Um," said Harry, "technically, I'm not one of your students, since the Hat never sorted me into a House."

Dumbledore turned to Harry, concern clear on his face. "Harry, you don't have to-"

"I'm not afraid to tell the truth." Harry interrupted. He turned to Director Bones, "Draco mentioned Veritaserum at King's Cross Station, what does it do exactly?"

"It forces you to tell the truth." Responded Director Bones.

Harry thought for a second, he couldn't reveal everything about his conversation with the Hat, that could prove disastrous. "Does it _force_ me to tell the truth, or just prevent me from telling lies?"

"A single drop will only prevent you from telling lies."

"Then I see no problem with taking a single drop, I never tell lies anyway."

"Harry…" Dumbledore said

"Enough, Albus, the boy said he would do it." Director Bones drew a flask from her robes and unscrewed the top. "Open your mouth and stick out your tongue."

Harry did as he was told. He felt the Veritaserum drop on his tongue, it was completely tasteless. He wouldn't be able to tell the difference if his tongue was covered in it. He was going to have to be careful with any food or drink that was offered to him from now on.

"Two plus two is th-four." Well it looked like it was working.

"Right. Did you, or did anyone else to your knowledge, cast a spell on or otherwise modify the enchantment on the Sorting Hat of Hogwarts?"

"Aside from putting it on my head and speaking to it, no."

Director Bones furrowed her brow. "Was there anything unique about your conversation with the Hat?"

_Of course,_ Harry thought, _this is basically the head of the magical police I'm talking to. She's going to be thorough. _"Well yes, but everyone's interaction with the Sorting Hat is unique. What happened during my sorting could have happened to anyone who had my mental state."

Director Bones paused. A note of skepticism crept into her voice, "You claim that any student could convince the Hat to sort them into the Headmaster position, and yet they never did before you?"

"It's not as simple as just asking the Hat to make you Headmaster." Harry was struggling to explain himself without revealing that he made the Hat sentient. "You need to change your entire method of thinking. You see...you see just about every other student that's attended Hogwarts in its history has either grown up being told stories about magic existing or explicitly seeing magic interact with their everyday life. Magic has internal consistency, but it doesn't appear to operate under any form of formal logic to a level where in order to advance to a certain level of magical aptitude you need to understand the underlying rules of magic. Muggle scientists have taken pretty much the opposite view, in order to succeed as a scientist you need to not accept anything implicitly. There are plenty of mathematical and scientific principles that have become centrally important to scientists through, basically, formalising something which seems intuitive. It may _seem_ obvious that the energy to lift a car has to come from _somewhere_, but the laws of thermodynamics weren't made by people just accepting that as fact. So while the other kids were told the Sorting Hat sorted them into one of four Houses and therefore talked to the Hat exclusively about which of those Houses they would be sorted into, I talked to the Hat partially about being sorted into the Houses, but I didn't stop there. I considered other possibilities without my brain automatically censoring the ideas, and one of those possibilities was the position of Headmaster."

Director Bones furrowed her brow, "I can't say I fully understand what you're trying to tell me, but it sounds like you were just the first person to consider being sorted into the Headmaster's office as an option. If that's true, then-"

"It's quite a bit more complicated than that." Harry interrupted. "I can't explain everything about my conversation with the Sorting Hat, but rest assured this isn't something that will start happening all the time. Any other student wouldn't be able to negotiate with the Hat as well as I did, and even if they could, they couldn't be given this position if they had any doubts about it. Since having multiple students sorted into House Headmaster would be even more of a fiasco, they wouldn't be able to negotiate for it. I wouldn't have considered the possibility myself if I thought anyone else could get sorted there."

Direcor Bones rubbed her forehead and sighed, "Whatever your concerns, I think you're going to have to tell me exactly how your conversation with the Sorting Hat went."

"Um," Harry scratched his neck nervously, "Like I said, I can't really tell you the specifics. There could be potentially disastrous results if the details got out. That's why I was so worried about the Veritaserum."

"What kind of results? Like all students being chosen as Headmaster?"

"Well...that's a possibility, but not all that likely. What I'm worried about is...it's hard to explain without giving away what the problem is. If I were to try to explain it, it'd probably be something like 'around 100 extra deaths per year' or something, and that would-"

The reaction was immediate. Director Bones straightened, her face became much more serious and her grip tightened on her wand. Dumbledore, in contrast, had a look of horror on his face.

"Wait, this is exactly the sort of situation I wanted to avoid. I know it _sounds_ bad, but it's not nearly as big a deal as it sounds. It's…" Harry knew he couldn't explain what it was like to create an intelligence for just long enough to have a conversation with it, "It's like with livestock. They have some intelligence and they feel pain and sadness like the rest of us, but they don't have the same level of intelligence and wouldn't be able to live in the first place if it weren't for us. So if someone were to attack your cows, do you have cows in magical Britain? Sorry, getting off track. If someone were to attack 100 of your cows per year, you would be upset, but it wouldn't be as bad as if you were losing humans."

Director Bones and Dumbledore seemed to relax somewhat, although not completely. "Albus, is there any chance the boy could be an Occlumens of some sort?" Director Bones asked.

Dumbledore shook his head, "He learned about magic at the same time as any other student raised in a muggle home, and he got his schoolbooks considerably later than most of them. All of his interactions with magic have been monitored by Minerva, and he has been monitored before then in case of attacks by Death Eaters. He hasn't even heard of Occlumency until today."

"Is it possible someone's polyjuiced as him?"

"Listen to yourself, Amelia. You sound like Alastor. Harry has already done extraordinary things, even as a child. Who else would be able to manipulate the Sorting Hat but the Boy Who Lived?"

Harry was starting to feel a bit left out of this conversation. He supposed it was to be expected, he was only one part of the world that was affected by his Sorting. On the plus side, it finally gave him a chance to organise his thoughts. The Sorting had turned into a huge fiasco, and it had started off as a fiasco already. He didn't know what he expected, asking the Sorting Hat to sort him into House "Headmaster".

_Maybe this can be a good lesson,_ he thought to himself, _actions have consequences, and the whole world is affected by those consequences. Really, I should have learned this after the Incident at the Science Fair._

Apparently he would never live that down, not even in his own head.

Harry felt he had never really understood that there was a whole world out there, at least not on a gut level. He had never really seen the outside world respond to anything before. He tried to be conscious about how people would be affected by his actions, but not really how they responded. From now on, he could be more careful before making major decisions.

_Is it too early to award points to the anti-Dark-Lord-Harry program?_

"-can afford the expense for the purposes of national security." Director Bones said with finality, tapping some kind of a mirror she had taken out during her argument with Dumbledore. "Axe, I want you to get Thief's Downfall from storage and bring it to Hogwarts. Vault 271, password Steel, Thorn, Wind." She turned back to Dumbledore, "You're going to have to let my auror through the wards when he arrives."

_Wait, then how did she get in without Dumbledore's knowledge?_

"Very well," Dumbledore said, "if it is necessary for you to feel at ease, and Harry is ok with it."

Director Bones then turned back to Harry, "Now then, I still have a number of questions to ask you."

"How long will the Vertiaserum last?" Harry asked.

"It should last a few more minutes, and we can replace it if necessary. Now, do you have any other charms on you? The Thief's Downfall will to most charms."

Harry sighed, it looked like it was going to be a longer day than he thought.


	3. Deliberations

Lucius Malfoy was confused.

He did not like being confused, and it was not often that he was. He prided himself on the number of precautions he had taken so that he would always understand what was happening in the world.

Of course, there were times he was surprised by one thing or another. It would be impossible to predict every time a morally upstanding citizen became corrupted. Still, there was a difference between being _surprised_ and _confused_. Being _surprised_ simply meant that Lucius had not managed to predict something happening. Being _confused_ meant that he did not understand it even after it had happened. When one of his supporters voted against him in an important Wizengamot vote, he could look back and see the indications they were turning against him. He tried to establish a method of finding those telltale signs in advance, but the process was maddening. Nobody could be expected to perfectly analyze everyone they interact with, the only person who had even come close had died a number of years ago.

However, there were only two people Lucius had met who could consistently make him confused, and he didn't have many kind words to say about either of them. Had they not spent the better part of ten years fighting each other, he was sure the world would have been turned to ash long ago.

When he looked at this morning's edition of _The Daily Prophet_, he felt a level of confusion he rarely felt even from Dumbledore. The headline read:

BOY-WHO-LIVED:

NEXT HOGWARTS HEADMASTER?

That boy was only eleven years old, and he had already done two things no other wizard could even hope to do. Not to mention the prophecy he had apparently spawned. He was an important piece on the field since the attack on Godric's Hollow, but now Lucius could be sure it wasn't a coincidence. Whatever power the boy had that could defeat the most powerful Dark Lord in history, it was still present, and it could be used for purposes other than combat.

Lucius thought back to what little he knew about the event at Godric's Hollow. He thought back to all the thousands of Galleons he spent, hiring investigators, magical experts, repeatedly going over every detail of that night. He had eventually concluded that it was some sort of set-up. The Dark Mark had not faded, so there was at least a remnant of the Dark Lord left in the world. It seemed unlikely that he would fake his own death, but it seemed more likely than a child defeating him. Lucius had been forced to assume that Dumbledore had baited the Dark Lord to attack Godric's Hollow, and then sprung a trap on him. It still didn't fit perfectly, but he had learned not to look too closely when it came to Dumbledore's plots. Lucius wasn't on the same level of magical expertise that Dumbledore and the Dark Lord were, but he wouldn't be surprised if Dumbledore could surpass the Dark Lord in a duel. Plus, it would explain why there was nothing but a burning husk left of both the Dark Lord and his wife.

Lucius couldn't stop his hands from tightening on the paper as he thought of his wife. Beautiful, pure, Narcissia. She never joined the Death Eaters, she never even knew Lucius was a Death Eater. Lucius forced his hands to relax, not show any anger or weakness. He was alone, but it was good to keep up the habit. No, the boy had taken down the Dark Lord, somehow. Lucius could not even begin to imagine what the boy could do. He knew one thing, though. Gaining the boy's alliance was the top priority.

Lucius put down the newspaper and picked up the letter he had gotten asking for an emergency meeting of the Hogwarts Board of Governors. They were to discuss the Sorting Hat's decision, as they always did when a new Headmaster was decided. The whole meeting was nothing more than a formality, everyone knew it. There was nobody on the Board of Governors that would be willing to support a child being chosen as Headmaster.

Still, the boy was important, someone Lucius needed on his side. If the letter Draco had sent him was accurate, it meant the boy had already met with Severus. He would have to talk with Severus later about why he didn't feel the need to tell anyone about it, but he surely had his reasons.

Lucius sighed and put down the letter. He had spent the past twelve years looking for a way to move Dumbledore out of the Headmaster position before Draco was old enough to go to school, and now an opportunity had arisen. Even if it was unlikely, this was the Boy-Who-Lived.

He opened the doors to exit his private study. His loyal bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle were positioned outside, alert as always. "Crabbe, Goyle, we're going to Hogwarts for an emergency meeting of the Board of Governors." Crabbe and Goyle nodded in response. Straightforward, no stupid questions. It wasn't easy to find bodyguards as effective as those two.

As he strode out of his manor to get out of range of the anti-apparition charm, he thought through his strategy for the meeting. He never liked being the first to suggest any course of action, but the Malfoys didn't become the most powerful family in Magical Britain by following in the footsteps of others. Some of the Malfoys had followed others, but only ever for a time. They always came out on top.

* * *

"So...what will I expect to see in this meeting, Headmaster?" Harry asked as he suppressed a yawn.

"Oh, a lot of talking, some discussing. Maybe even deliberating, if you're lucky, Headmaster." Dumbledore replied cheerfully.

"Yes, but...can you give me a five minute overview of what they're going to do, what they'll be sympathetic towards?"

"Oh, but that would ruin the surprise!"

Harry rolled his eyes. He was too tired for this crazy Headmaster act, especially now that he knew it was an act. Yesterday was exhausting enough, and with his awkward sleep schedule, he was a bit more tired than he should have been at 10 AM. He should probably have counted himself lucky that he managed to be awake at a reasonable time. Hopefully soon he would have a solution, or he would end up missing even more classes. He wasn't too worried about missing one day of classes, but he might have missed out on important context for the rest of the semester.

Harry and Dumbledore reached a rather official looking door in some remote corner of Hogwarts. _I'm going to figure out how this castle works, one day_, Harry thought to himself, _space warping magic is probably the easiest kind of magic to abuse. There's so much I could do without conservation of energy. Of course, that only works if Hogwarts is actually bigger on the inside, and we don't just shrink down or enter some sort of pocket dimension._

Harry walked through the doors and into a surprisingly large, circular room. The room had twelve chairs aligned in circle in the middle of the room, surrounding two smaller chairs in the middle. The twelve large chairs were occupied by a group of intimidating wizards and witches. Harry recognised Amelia Bones and Lucius Malfoy, but the rest of them were complete strangers. The whole room had a very intimidating feel, as if to drive home that these twelve people had complete control over your future.

"Well," said an elderly witch, after Harry and Dumbledore sat on the smaller chairs, "I think we can all agree this is a pointless meeting. We won't be voting to allow a child the Headmaster position any time soon."

"Not so fast, Agusta." replied Lucius Malfoy, "we must give this issue the attention it deserves."

"Oh Lucius, have you really sunk so low as to be advocating for a _child_, just so you can cause problems for Dumbledore?" Sneered an elderly man sitting to Malfoy's left.

"Don't be so closed-minded, Charles. The boy is clearly extraordinary, I'm simply suggesting we think about this before we make any decisions."

"I don't care if the boy is the next Merlin," said the elderly witch, "in order for someone to be qualified as a Headmaster, they need to have certain skills. They need to understand magic and how to best teach it to children. A first year simply cannot have that knowledge, especially if, as I'm led to believe, he has been living in the muggle world for most of his life."

"I hate to agree with Lucius." Amelia Bones said, "but I spoke with the boy at length yesterday when attempting to verify that the Hat had not been tampered with. He is an extraordinary first year, and we should at the very least hear him out."

Everyone turned to Harry. "Well, I've been thinking a lot about how I can improve the school, since before I talked to the Sorting Hat." Harry began, "You're right that I don't have as much magical experience as the rest of you, but I'm very good at learning new information. My da-my adoptive father was a professor at an advanced muggle school, so he had a lot of advanced books and he encouraged me to read about anything I was curious about." There was a bit of nervous shuffling around the rest of the room. "I could learn the basics of what's being taught in all sevem years as the year goes on, although I probably wouldn't be on the level I should be, at least at first. I should be able to keep up with the general ideas and figure out what is safe and what is difficult and everything. Aside from the magic, though, I think there's a lot that I could bring to this school. Some of those muggle books I read had knowledge on developmental psychology that I don't think is prevalent in the wizarding world-"

"Hah!" barked the old wizard, "You hear that, Lucius? The boy you supported wants to bring in muggle ideas. What do you-"

"They're not 'muggle ideas'." Interrupted Harry, somewhat annoyed. "They're human techniques that muggles happened to have discovered before wizards. It's bound to happen, since there are so many more muggles than wizards in the world. Wizards may be able to use magic, but if there were any psychological differences then muggleborns would stand out and wouldn't be able to live in the muggle world until they were 11. But I'm getting off topic, the point is that it doesn't matter _where_ it originated, so long as it works."

"What would you suggest changing, then?" asked Amelia Bones.

"Well I would have to spend more time to figure out every change I would make, but I did talk to the rest of the students and there are a few glaring problems with your faculty. Most obviously is the Potions Master and Head of Slytherin, Severus Snape. Snape is consistently abusive to all students not in Slytherin."

"Severus Snape is an invaluable member of the faculty, and a world-renowned Potions Master." Said a wizard to Lucius Malfoy's right.

"I don't care how great he is at dealing with potions, he's terrible at dealing with children. Good professors are experts on learning, able to accommodate their students as best as possible. If half of what I've been told is true, Snape wouldn't be fit to be a janitor in a place as prestigious as this." Harry was getting very annoyed with the conversation, but he was trying to keep his anger under control. He needed reasonable Harry, not angry will-take-any-route-to-get-what-he-wants Harry.

He found Lucius was staring at him intently, and he turned away. Didn't the sorting hat say something about looking into people's eyes? It would be hard to avoid entirely, but he could try to be aware of it.

"Well, refreshing as it is to see a candidate who isn't afraid to make controversial statements, my point stands."said the old witch, "I'm not replacing Dumbledore with this child until he can prove he's an expert on magic."

"It is not necessary for the boy to replace Dumbledore." said Lucius, "We can let him be an apprentice Headmaster for a semester. He would not have any true power over the school, yet he would have an opportunity to learn how it is run. Of course, fe would also have to go through his regularly scheduled classes, to ensure he is learning all the necessary information. It would be a lot of extra work for him, but I am sure he could get through it if he wanted to."

"Lucius…" said the man on his right, "Are you sure this is the best course of action? The boy wants to remove Snape and bring in Muggle ideas."

"It may not be a certainty, but I believe this boy will be worth the risk. He has an interesting new philosophy, and I want to see where it will go. If he is not given any real control, he cannot cause any harm."

"But-"

"You will earn the favor of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Malfoy if you support this action. Enough deliberating, let's put it to a vote. All in favor of making Harry Potter assistant Headmaster?" Lucius raised his hand.

Harry looked around the room, and saw that Amelia Bones had also raised her hand, and several others were raising their hands. It looked to be about evenly divided. Six hands raised, and six unraised. Just another issue the wizarding world had, it would be much better if the board of governors had an odd number of members to prevent ties like this.

"So, a tie." Harry said, "What does that mean, does the Headmaster decide or something?" He turned to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore clapped his hands together and smiled. "Well, Headmaster, I'll get your office set up as soon as possible."


End file.
